


Problematic Liberals

by MalPomme (AfterBurn)



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Non-binary character, Roommates, Transphobia, problematic liberals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 09:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12430008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AfterBurn/pseuds/MalPomme
Summary: Bolin, Mako, and Tahno are roommates. Bolin defends they/them pronouns.





	Problematic Liberals

“Hey, Mako! I'm home!”

Bolin made his way up the stairs of their small three bedroom house and into the dining room. Mako was in the kitchen cooking dinner.

“Hey,” he said. “How was your day?”

“Oh, good, you know I was just hanging out with Korra.”

“How was that?”

“Fine, we just sat and watched documentaries together it was cool. There was a good one about women in the comic book industry we watched. It was kind of funny. The first one they chose was really cheesy, but this one totally made up for it.” Bolin put his backpack on the table and started unpacking it. “So, are you still doing that weird thing where you won't call Korra by their preferred pronouns?”

Mako frowned. “It's not correct grammar. Singular 'they' is informal and doesn't work as a pronoun.”

It was Bolin's turn to frown. "But people use it all the time if they don't know the person's name. For example, if I were to find a wallet in the street I would say, 'someone dropped _their_ wallet.'”

Mako flipped over the burger he was cooking in the frying pan. “It's still informal. You should say 'he or she' if you wanted to be correct.”

“But Mako, Korra goes by they pronouns, so you should at least respect it. What if I brought them over here? What pronouns would you use for them?”

Mako shrugged. “I would just use Korra's name all the time.”

 _That's a whole different thing,_ Bolin thought. He dropped the conversation and went upstairs and thought to himself for a minute. Bolin sat on his bed and pulled out his phone. He proceeded to look up 'singular they pronouns' in Google. He found an interesting and informative article in Time magazine that had several links, including one to the Oxford Dictionary. He clicked on the link and in the definition of 'them' was the singular use for a pronoun. Bolin scoffed to himself. _So, it's in the dictionary,_ he thought. He copied the link to both the Time magazine article and the link to the Oxford Dictionary and posted it on Mako's Facebook page.

Some time later, he received a notification that Mako had commented on his post.

“Cute,” it read, with a link to the word ain't from the same website, “look what else is in the dictionary.”

“So,” Bolin started to type back, “you're basically being stubborn. Language is evolving all the time. It's time you evolve with it. You is now accepted as a singular and plural when it wasn't accepted as singular before.” _He knows what I'm talking about,_ he thought, _the singular use for you was thou._

Bolin received a notification right away. Again, from Mako.

“Technically, it's not grammatically correct. Is it commonly used? Yes. Do I respect individuals less for choosing that pronoun to represent themselves? No. Just because it's in the dictionary does not mean that it's technically grammatically correct,” Mako wrote back; attached was a link to a grammar website for the use of 'them' in grammar. Mako posted again right away, “So stop trying to pick a fight with me. If you have something to say, I'm downstairs. Posting it on my Facebook page isn't going to prove your point or change my mind.”

Bolin clicked on the link Mako posted. At the very top it read: Learn when you should use “he,” “she,” “he/she,” and “they.” [UPDATE: The Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook changed their recommendations about the singular “they” in late March of 2017. This post will be updated soon. In the meantime, the short story is that Chicago said it's now OK to use singular “they” for transgender people, and the AP made more extensive revisions, which are detailed here: AP Style Updates.]

Included was a link.

Bolin was flabbergasted. He couldn't believe Mako just sent him a link that proved his point. He was usually so sharp. So, he copied the text and pasted it into a comment and added below, “This is literally what it says in the top of the link you just sent me.” And for added measure, he copied the link to the AP Style Updates, which did read that it was okay to use 'they' as a singular pronoun, and sent it to him.

Mako replied, “Like I said, if you want to talk about this, I'm right downstairs.”

Bolin was terrible at defending himself when it came to actual conversation. Mako was so sharp that even if he were wrong, he would find a way to win the argument. So, Bolin just let it go and put on something to watch.

A short time later, he heard Mako stomp up the stairs and before he knew it, Mako had burst into his room.

“That was extremely passive aggressive of you, Bolin. Posting on my Facebook wall.”

Bolin's eyes widened. “I wasn't thinking about that, it was just literally the first thing that came to mind when I saw the link. I wasn't trying to be passive aggressive, I just didn't even think about it.”

“Well, next time,” Mako replied angrily, “don't post it on my Facebook page.”

“Okay, I'll just message it to you. Now, that you're here do you want to talk about it?”

“No, I'm going to bed,” he said and shut Bolin's door.

Bolin sat there for a minute with the television going in the background. He was right and they both knew it. If Mako denied it being incorrect grammar now, he'd be wrong. _And he should respect people's pronouns anyway and use 'them' if that's what the person wants. Whether it's grammatically correct or not._

After a few minutes of stewing over it, Bolin went downstairs only to see their other room mate, Tahno, sitting on the couch.

“So,” Bolin started as he joined Tahno in the living room, “did Mako tell you what happened?”

Tahno smiled. “Yeah.”

“So, what do you think?”

“I think you both have a point. But in my opinion, it's not grammatically correct. Why can't people just go by zie?”

“Because why should they have to when they is already a word and has been used for hundreds of years for singular use of a pronoun. Shakespeare used they has a singular pronoun.”

Tahno shrugged, “Yeah but Shakespeare is weird.”

 _Really?_ Bolin thought.

“You know,” Bolin replied, “Not using someone's preferred pronouns because they're 'grammatically incorrect' is transphobic.”

Tahno hummed. “I think you've been throwing that word around.”

 _But it's true!_ Bolin screamed in his head. Tahno had also decided earlier that if someone used 'they' pronouns, he wouldn't use it. But for no reason at all. Not because it was 'grammatically incorrect.' Bolin had subsequently said that made Tahno transphobic.

“Well,” Bolin said, “people have internalized transphobia.” He then went upstairs and fumed quietly to himself for the rest of the night.

 


End file.
